Phillies try to overcome Thor in Saturday night fight in Queens
The Philadelphia Phillies (46-42) exploded for five runs in the top of the 9th inning to pull away from the host New York Mets (39-49) for a 7-2 victory on Friday night.
With the win, the Phillies once again find themselves in control of an NL Wildcard playoff slot.
The victory was a sixth straight for the Phillies over their division rivals. By winning just two of the remaining eight games between the two teams this season, the Phillies will capture the season series between them for the first time since 2011.
It is possible that those two wins could come with the final two games in this weekend series at Citi Field. The first of those comes with Saturday night’s contest pitting veteran right-hander Jake Arrieta against the Mets golden-maned ‘Thor’, right-hander Noah Syndergaard.
The host Mets have dropped nine of their last 11 contests and have not enjoyed a winning record since sitting at 16-15 all the way back on May 2. Despite their fourth place standing, the Mets generally are a tough opponent. They have lost 22 games by just one or two runs, and have been the victims of a half-dozen walkoff defeats.
Phillies visit Citi Field just prior to the 2019 All-Star break
It was just 10 days ago that the Philadelphia Phillies (45-42) season was on life support. Seven straight defeats and losses in nine of their previous 10 games had dropped the club to just a game over the .500 mark.
Turned out the temporary cure at that time was arriving at Citizens Bank Park in the form of the New York Mets, a club perhaps struggling even more than the Phillies.
Now here we are, a week and a half later, and the Phillies season appears to once again have relapsed. Since that visit to South Philly by the Mets, the Phillies have dropped two of three games to both the last-place Miami Marlins and first-place Atlanta Braves.
The Phillies are not only looking up at the Braves in the NL East standings, they are also now trailing behind the Washington Nationals by a game in the loss column. This marks the first time all season that the Phillies have fallen below second place in the division. In fact, they have now also slipped out of even an NL Wildcard playoff slot.
Could the Mets once again prove to be just what the Phillies need to feel a bit rejuvenated heading into next week’s four-day MLB All-Star Game break? As this weekend before that Mid-Summer Classic break begins, the Phillies will visit Flushing, Queens for three games at Citi Field.
The Mets slipped to fourth place in the division back on June 19 and have been stuck there ever since. They are coming off a split in their two-game Subway Series match-up with the New York Yankees and had the day off on Independence Day. Losers of eight of their last 10, the Mets have not won three games in a row since mid-May.
NEW YORK METS
TOP LINEUP THREATS
Michael Conforto: 26-year-old right fielder slashing .247/.361/.477 with 16 homers, 32 extra-base hits, 43 RBIs, 47 runs.
Jeff McNeil: 27-year-old left fielder slashing .349/.411/.516 with 7 homers, 31 extra-base hits, 35 RBIs, 38 runs.
Mets skipper Mickey Callaway is under serious fire in New York
The Philadelphia Phillies (39-38) and New York Mets (37-41) both entered the 2019 season with high hopes. Each team was considered by most evaluators to be a genuine contender for a division crown and a postseason berth. Neither has seen their season play out as they would have hoped to this point.
The Phillies situation is well known by now to the frustrated and nearly mutinous fan base. The Phillies were 33-22 and riding high in first place in the division on May 29. They have gone just 6-16 since that time, and just three and a half weeks later are on a seven-game losing streak and have fallen out of even an NL Wildcard spot.
For the Mets, injuries and inconsistencies, their usual two bugaboos, have ganged up to derail what was their own promising start to the 2019 season. On April 24, nearly a month into the season, they were in first place following a 9-0 white-washing of the Phillies. But they went 13-15 in May, and are now 9-12 in June to this point.
The Mets have now lost star pitcher Noah Syndergaard to the IL for at least a couple of weeks. With Jacob deGrom not scheduled to pitch in this series, the Phillies hitters should feel fortunate to be missing their two best starters. However, as inconsistent as they have been performing of late, anyone appears capable of shutting down the Phillies bats.
Following this series, the Phillies will head out on the road for nine games within the division, three each in Miami, Atlanta, and New York. To say they are desperate at this point would be an understatement. The Phillies really need to win this series with the Mets in order to head out on the road feeling better about themselves and their chances of turning things around.
J.T. Realmuto enjoyed a big night in blowout of Mets
The Philadelphia Phillies (10 – 6) needed to make an early-season statement in a bad way. They wasted no time doing just that, erupting for 10 runs in the 1st inning and trouncing the division-rival New York Mets (10 – 7) by a score of 14-3 on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park.
New York fans had rolled down I-95, encouraged by their club’s exta-innings victory in the opening game of this series. They hoped to chant “Let’s Go, Mets!” and frustrate Phillies fans once again. Instead they were left to sit on their hands before leaving early.
Jerad Eickhoff, who missed most of last season while battling injuries, came out of the bullpen to provide four shutout innings and steal the thunder provided by the big bats.
Let’s go over the highlights of that huge first inning for the Phillies. Andrew McCutchen started it off, reaching on an error by Mets shortstop Amed Rosario. Jean Segura then slashed a double to left field to put two runners in scoring position. Bryce Harper was then drilled on the hand to load the bases. Harper shook off the hand and stayed in the game, appearing fine as the night moved along.
J.T. Realmuto then ripped a two-run double to put the Phillies on top by 2-0. Scott Kingery, getting the start at third base, followed by blasting a three-run homer to left. Kingery’s first long ball of the year pushed the Phillies out to a 5-0 lead.
After Cesar Hernandez walked, Aaron Altherr rolled a ball to Rosario, who let it roll through his legs for his second error of the inning. With two runners on base, Maikel Franco sent a blast out to deep center field for his sixth home run of the season and the Phillies led by 8-0.
That was enough of starting pitcher Steven Matz for Mets manager Mickey Callaway, who sent to his bullpen for Drew Gagnon. The 28-year-old righty was just called up today from Triple-A Syracuse. Gagnon struck out Pivetta for the first out, but then McCutchen doubled. Segura then grounded out with McCutchen moving up to third.
Bryce Harper walked to put runners at the corners. Realmuto then sent one to left, where an error by Jeff McNeil sealed that this would not be the visitor’s night. That big miscue by the man who was the hero of last night’s contest for the Mets allowed two runs to score making it a 10-0 Phillies lead.
Aaron Nola broke out to become the Phillies 2018 top story
It’s New Year’s Eve, and as the sand runs out in the hourglass of the year 2018, this would be a good time to take a look back on the year as it played out for the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phillies entered the calendar year of 2018 with the echoes of their successes in the previous decade, successes which had spilled over to the first years of the present decade, growing fainter and fainter.
After finishing in last place in the National League East Division standings in three of the previous four seasons, the Phillies began putting a roster together they hoped would begin reversing that trend early in January.
On January 3, the Phillies invited 10 non-roster players and newly signed free agents to spring training. Among those players were Pedro Florimon, who would appear in 50 games during the regular season, and Mitch Walding, who would appear in the first 13 games of his big-league career.
Before the month of January was out, eight more non-roster players or new free agent additions would also receive invitations to join the Phillies in Clearwater. Among those were Scott Kingery, who would end up as the Phillies starting shortstop for much of the coming season.
Once spring training got underway, changes to the roster continued to shed the players who had contributed as regulars during the recent losing history when Tommy Joseph and Cameron Rupp were each designated for assignment during March.
The Phillies made a big, late free agent addition on March 12 when the club came to agreement on three-year contract with Jake Arrieta. The 32-year-old right-hander had won the 2015 NL Cy Young Award and would bring a much-needed veteran presence to the team’s rotation.
2018 SEASON OPENS WITH HOPE
As the season opened, the club had little hope. Most fans would have considered a .500 finish during a season in which young players made strides towards the future as a positive step forward. But the club played well early, bolting out to a 14-7 mark over the first three weeks.
A hot stretch in early May pushed the Phillies record up to 29-20 and into first place in the division on May 26. However, the club began to slump at that point, losing seven of eight games to open the month of June. They continued to fight, and at the MLB All-Star Game break the Phillies were 53-42 and back in first place by a half-game.
That All-Star break was a fun one for Phillies fans, with starting pitcher Aaron Nola rewarded for a phenomenal first half by being named to the National League squad for the first time.
Nola would prove the best individual story of the season, going 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA and 0.975 WHIP. He allowed just 149 hits over 212.1 innings with 224 strikeouts. For that performance, Nola would finish third in the NL Cy Young Award voting.
Asdrubal Cabrera's addition failed to help Phillies stay in contention
Frankly, I’m tired of thinking in terms of what this 2018 Philadelphia Phillies ball club can’t get done.
I really don’t think they are a playoff team just yet. But I’ve also always been a glass-half-full guy. So, it’s time to examine the possibilities once again.
Much has been made of the Philadelphia Phillies sudden inability to win a series. They have now lost nine in a row going back to an early-August four-game sweep of Miami at Citizens Bank Park.
What you may not realize is that it was exactly one month ago today that the team’s 2018 hopes had crested. Fans had little reason to suspect what was about to happen next and unfold over this past calendar month.
On Wednesday morning, August 8, the Phillies woke up in Phoenix, Arizona as a first-place team. They were tied in the loss column with the Atlanta Braves, but had played and won three more times. Their lead was at two games in the loss column for an NL Wildcard playoff berth.
The club had defeated the host Arizona Diamondbacks the previous night by a 5-2 score when Nick Pivetta matched Dbacks ace Zack Greinke pitch for pitch. What had been a 1-0 pitcher’s duel was busted open with a four-run rally in the top of the eighth against former Phillies reliever Jake Diekman.
It was a sixth victory in seven games for the team. The lone defeat had come in the series opener on a 14th inning walkoff. The last defeat prior to the winning stretch had been a 13th inning walkoff at the hands of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
The Phillies were winning baseball games and playing good teams tough on a regular basis. And there were signs that the club might finally be scoring runs on a consistent basis, something which had eluded them for much of the season. The Tuesday night victory was the fifth straight in which the club had scored at least five times.
Then on that Wednesday night the Phillies were shutout by Arizona’s lefty ace Patrick Corbin. No shame there. Corbin was an NL All-Star this season and was emerging as one of the top pitchers in all of baseball.
After an off-day the Phillies moved on to San Diego to face the Padres, the last place team in the West Division and owners of the worst record in the entire National League. Once again, they were shut out, this time by rookie Jacob Nix.
Those consecutive white-washings proved to be the beginning of a month-long 9-17 collapse leading up to last night’s opener at Citi Field in New York.
The month of losing had left the Phillies staring up at a three-game deficit to Atlanta in the division and had dropped them four games off the final Wildcard pace with four teams between them and that last-chance playoff spot.
But here we sit on Saturday morning, September 8, and the Phillies are still very much alive. The Braves faced a tough schedule this week, playing the Red Sox and Diamondbacks. They have gone just 1-4 to this point. Atlanta has lost seven of their last 10 overall, nine of their last 14 games.
With the Phillies 4-3 win over the Mets last night coupled with a Braves 5-3 loss to Arizona the division deficit has been cut to just two games in the loss column. There are still 22 games remaining for the Phillies this season, including seven of the final 11 as head-to-head battles with Atlanta.
The Phillies still have not resolved a huge negative issue that has plagued the team all year long. They still are not scoring on a consistent basis.
Prior to last night the lone Phillies victory of the past week came when the offense erupted for nine runs in Miami. But in the other four games, all losses, the team managed to score just a single run in each.
Management tried to help by bringing in veterans Asdrubal Cabrera, Wilson Ramos, and Justin Bour to bolster the attack and provide greater depth. It really hasn’t helped very much.
Francisco Liriano could help the Phillies as a lefty reliever
There is a great deal of warranted interest and excitement every year around the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline in Major League Baseball.
Teams can deal away players up until 4:00PM EDT on that date without first subjecting them to the waiver wire.
Once that deadline passes it doesn’t mean that trades cannot be made. After that point players can still be dealt. However, they must first pass through waivers.
Non-contending teams frequently will put a player they are interested in dealing on waivers during the month of August. Each of the other 29 clubs in MLB have an opportunity to make a claim in reverse order of the current standings.
If no one claims the player, he enters into a status of having “cleared waivers” and he can then be traded. If the player is claimed, the team who waived him can let him go to the claiming team, can pull him back, or can work out a trade with the claiming team.
It happens every year that some players are dealt in this manner. Phillies fans may remember that a couple of the 2008 World Series heroes, Chase Utley in 2015 and Carlos Ruiz in 2016, were each dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the month of August.
Phillies already made one August move this year, adding Bour’s veteran lefty bat.
Phillies general manager Matt Klentak has already moved once this month to help strengthen his club. The Phillies GM obtained Justin Bour on August 10 from the Miami Marlins in exchange for prospect pitcher McKenzie Mills.
Adams describes the value that Liriano could bring to a team such as the Phillies:There is another player out there who has apparently cleared waivers who could also help the Phillies, and who might come at a similarly reasonable cost.
“…he’s held left-handed pitching to a terrible .141/.247/.239 slash through 81 plate appearances. With $984K still owed to him through the end of the year, he’d be a reasonably affordable lefty specialist for a contending team’s bullpen.”
Liriano is a 34-year-old now in his 13th big league season. He was originally signed as a teenager by the Minnesota Twins, and broke in with the Twins in the 2005 season.
In his first full season with Minnesota in 2006, Liriano went 12-3 with a 144/23 K:BB ratio over 121 innings in 28 games, 16 of those as a starter. He made the American League all-star team and finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.
He would go on to have big years with the Twins in 2010 when he finished 11th in the AL Cy Young Award voting, and then in 2013 when he finished 9th in the NL Cy Young voting as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
At the July 31, 2017 non-waiver deadline, Liriano was dealt from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Houston Astros. A member of the Jays rotation, Liriano became a lefty specialist with the Astros, making 20 appearances out of the bullpen for manager A.J. Hinch and helping the team nail down the AL West Division crown.
During the postseason he tossed 2.1 innings over five total appearances across the ALDS, ALCS, and the World Series, helping Houston win its first ever championship. He allowed one run, a homer to Rafael Devers of the Boston Red Sox in Game Three of that American League Division Series at Fenway Park.
Liriano signed with the Tigers as a free agent just prior to spring training opening back at the end of February. Pitching mostly as a member of the Detroit starting rotation he has compiled a 3-8 record, allowing just 89 hits across 97.1 innings. He flirted with no-hitters twice this season.
When the Philadelphia Phillies acquired all-star catcher Wilson Ramos from the Tampa Bay Rays at the July 31 trade deadline it was with the full knowledge that he was slightly damaged goods.
Ramos went on the DL while with Tampa just before he was scheduled to start for the American League in the 2018 MLB All-Star Game. He last played on July 14 with the Rays, going 1-3 with a double and two RBI that day.
A native of Venezuela who just turned 31 years old last week, Ramos in his ninth big league campaign. He is due to become a free agent this coming off-season.
Prior to suffering the injury to his left hamstring, Ramos was slashing .297/.346/.488 with 14 home runs, 14 doubles, and 53 RBI.
Alfaro is slashing .249/.309/.382, while Knapp has a .217/.310/.354 line. The two have combined for 11 homers, 21 doubles, and 42 RBI.
Alfaro has a cannon for an arm from the catching position. However, both he and Knapp have proven less-than-adequate at handling balls in the dirt and other slightly wild offerings from the pitching staff.
Ramos is not considered a strong defensive catcher either. Per the SABR Defensive Index from the first half of this season he was ranked 13th among American League backstops with a -0.8 SDI. By comparison, Alfaro was ranked 9th in the NL with a -0.3 SDI. But Ramos has thrown out more than 30% of attempted base stealers who have chosen to run on him.
Matt Breen, who covers the Phillies for Philly.com and their print resources, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, tweeted this afternoon that Ramos was in Philadelphia and would be activated for the Phillies game with the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday evening.
Wilson Ramos is in Philadelphia and should be activated today from the DL. A needed addition for a lineup averaging 2.28 runs per game in last seven games.
Ramos would definitely provide the Phillies with far more experience and a more consistent offensive history, as Corey Seidman at NBC Sports Philadelphia noted:
“He’s not just a good hitter for a catcher — he’s a good hitter, period. He drives the ball consistently and doesn’t strike out much. Ramos has struck out in 17 percent of his career plate appearances. Jorge Alfaro has struck out a whopping 36 percent of the time.“
Per Marc Topkin at the Tampa Bay Times, Ramos is expected to be looking for a contract somewhere in the three-year, $40 million range in the coming off-season. With other needs to fill, that may be a bit pricey for the Phillies for a catcher in his ages 31-33 seasons.
It remains to be seen whether Ramos will prove to be just a rental. But if he stays healthy, he could prove to be a valuable one for a Phillies team that appears to be slightly ahead of schedule in their attempt to return to contending status.
Jake Thompson dealt from Phillies to Milwaukee Brewers
The Philadelphia Phillies “traded” pitcher Jake Thompson to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
In exchange the Phillies received…cash. Not an intriguing prospect named “Cash”, just plain cash, as in money.
In effect, the Phillies sold Thompson to a National League Wildcard playoff rival. There is no other way to color this transaction than the Phillies giving up on Thompson.
Though details on the exact “why” were not announced, the likelihood is that the Brewers claimed Thompson after the Phillies designated him for assignment on Friday. That move was done in order to make room on the roster for the newly acquired Justin Bour.
With the claim, the Phillies would have three choices. Pull him back and DFA someone else. Let him go to the Brewers for nothing. Or cut some type of deal with Milwaukee.
GM Matt Klentak was obviously offered some amount of cash that he felt comfortable receiving back from Brew Crew GM David Stearns in order to surrender Thompson.
All of this begs the question, why Thompson? Why did the Phillies choose to DFA a 24-year-old pitcher who in seven minor league seasons has surrendered fewer hits than innings pitched, has produced a 3.55 ERA over 669 innings, and who just two years ago was the 2016 International League Most Valuable Pitcher?
There were other options. The club could have chosen to DFA someone like Mitch Walding, a soon-to-be 26-year-old. Walding is enjoying a nice season with the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs. However, he is nowhere to be found on any list or discussion of top Phillies prospects. He is an “organizational” guy available for positional depth at best.
These would have been the other candidates. You can make a legitimate argument that none has higher upside than Thompson. It’s hard to see any reason that Taveras was kept over Thompson other than the age-old baseball love for left-handed pitchers of nearly any skill level.
If you’re wondering whether the Phillies could have chosen to DFA catcher Andrew Knapp, the answer is both yes and no. The backup backstop turns 27-years-old in early November and has slashed .217/.310/.354 while demonstrating questionable defensive ability at best behind the plate.
However, with Wilson Ramos still on the DL at the time that the Bour move needed to be made, Knapp and Jorge Alfaro were the lone catchers on the 40-man roster. There is no way that you can play with just one legitimate catcher. So, while results and upside might mean Knapp could go, short-term practicality meant that he could not.
None of this is to say that Thompson didn’t have his own issues, command and control chief among them. With the Phillies, Thompson had allowed 4.7 walks for every nine innings pitched. Over 16.1 innings with the big club this season that BB/9 average was at the unsightly 6.1 mark.
His minor league record reveals just a 3.2 BB/9 figure over 144 games, 118 of those starts. However, this year his 5.0 mark revealed regression. Perhaps the Phillies simply didn’t think that he was fixable.
There is also always the possibility that some situation was going on behind the scenes to which we aren’t privy. Some personal or disciplinary problem. But that would be nothing more than pure speculation.
What we do know is that the Phillies now have given up on half the return which they received from the Texas Rangers in the Cole Hamels trade three years ago.
Thompson was considered a big part of that deal at the time. He had been the Detroit Tigers second round pick in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft out of a Texas high school. Detroit dealt him along with Corey Knebel at the approach of the 2014 trade deadline to the Rangers in exchange for reliever Joakim Soria.
Almost exactly two years ago at this time, Thompson was making just his second MLB start. In earning his first big league win with a five-inning effort against the Colorado Rockies at Citizens Bank Park he also made a little Phillies history.
Thompson struck out four Rockies batters in the second inning of that contest. In doing so he became the first Phillies pitcher ever and the 80th in MLB history to accomplish the feat.
Also gone from the Hamels deal is lefty pitcher Matt Harrison, who was never going to pitch for the Phillies. He had career-ending injury issues that the club new about at the time of the trade, and his inclusion was simply the Phillies taking on a contract in order to obtain a better prospect package.
Right-handed pitcher Alec Asher was basically given away to the Baltimore Orioles. He was dealt at the end of spring training in 2017 for cash considerations or a player to be named later who was never named. Odds are that some small amount of cash was passed between the two organizations.
Remaining with the Phillies are the current starting right fielder Nick Williams, starting catcher (for the time being) Jorge Alfaro, and injured pitcher Jerad Eickhoff.
The Phillies are not likely to miss Thompson very much in the long run. That they felt capable of giving up on a talented pitcher who still projects to have some upside says something positive about the state of the organizational pitching options.
Phillies offense and defense have been poor in 2018
The Philadelphia Phillies are showing signs that the offensive and defensive struggles which have plagued the team all season may finally be ready to derail hopes for an unexpected 2018 playoff berth.
Friday night’s 2-0 shutout at the hands of the NL West cellar-dwelling San Diego Padres served to reveal symptoms of what have been season-long weaknesses. One of the biggest manifested itself once again as the club left 10 men on base.
The club has been shut out twice in a row. They haven’t scored now in 19 innings. The Phillies offensive attack is actually not inconsistent. Truth be told, it is virtually non-existent. That is especially so when compared with most other contending teams.
Those shortcomings have been pointed out previously, but it’s educational to take an updated look at where the Phillies offense stacks up now that we are into the season’s fifth month.
Keeping the comparisons within the National League where lineups are not bolstered by a Designated Hitter is probably fairer. But even just within the senior circuit, the Phillies do not fare well in statistical comparisons.
The Phillies current team ranks within the 15 teams of the NL in various key offensive statistics are as follows: Runs (11), Hits (14), Extra-base Hits (11), OPS (11), and Stolen Bases (14). The team’s hitters are second in the league in strikeouts having whiffed 1,099 times, just nine behind the Padres for the worst mark in the league.
Over the last two weeks the Phillies have fashioned a 6-7 record. They have fallen from first place with a 2.5 game lead to now trailing the Atlanta Braves by percentage points in the National League East Division race.
In that time the offense has scored 40 runs, or just over three runs per game. On the season the Phillies are now averaging about 4.33 runs per game.
Defensively things are no better. With 83 errors the Phillies rank 28 of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball. Those are just the charged miscues. There have been a number of other misplays and poor judgments made. The catchers failing to handle offerings that have been charged as wild pitches. It has been an almost nightly comedy of literal errors.
There are many culprits when you glance up and down the Phillies lineup. One of the biggest is the 32-year-old, $60 million first baseman, Carlos Santana. He is on pace to hit roughly 25 home runs and produce 95 RBI. Some will tell you that makes him worth the contract.
Santana will drop statistically in a number of categories for a second straight season at age 32.
However, Santana is also hitting an anemic .217, and his slugging percentage is more than 40 points below his career average. Across the board from those AVG and SLG marks to OPS, doubles, hits, total bases and more, Santana is going to drop for a second straight season.
As Santana ages to 33 and 34 over the next two years and $40 million owed, for anyone to expect a reversal of that trend would be foolish. This was a bad signing when it happened, and it is likely only to look even worse over the course of the next two seasons.
The problem isn’t just in Santana’s numbers and age, but it is also with Phillies management. Their judgment in awarding such a contract commitment to such a limited player is disturbing. What would be even more disturbing? Their inability or unwillingness to admit a mistake and to take a corrective measure.
